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Geoffry Ravenut
Geoffry Ravenut is human male NPC in the Emeron campaign. Background Geoffry Ravenut was born in Lurinlund City to Born Jonathan and Talya Ravenut, though sadly Talya died in childbirth. Geoffry's grandfather was the famed hero Baron Christopher Ravenut. As the sole heir to the Barony of Lurinlund Geoffry was trained in combat, nobility and rhetoric from a young age. When Geoffry was a teen, Lord Varger Loxton, the ruler of the estate of Orik, made an effort to wed his daughter Vonya to Geoffry. In truth such a match was unlikely to succeed as Orik was a small and rural estate with little to offer in a marriage alliance. Geoffry, attractive and somewhat arrogant as a teenager, did not find the rather plain Vonya especially attractive or interesting. He displayed every courtly nicety to Vonya, but privately made his lack of interest clear to his father, dooming an already unlikely pairing. The Ravenut crest, created by Baron Jonathan, is a raven in the upper right and a chestnut in the lower left. Baron of Lurinlund In 1129 Geoffry was on a hunting trip with his best friend Cufa Borix. They were ambushed at night and kidnapped by a small group of Spider People. They secreted the two away in suspended animation in Horsehead Peak and took the forms and identities of the two men. They would continue to secretly masquerade as the two men for decades, seemingly with no one the wiser. In 1140, Baron Jonathan Ravenut died of a sudden heart attack and Geoffry's impostor ascended to the Baron of Lurinlund. He made several changes, the most controversial of which was the removal of the Sir Reyny Indsott as First Knight of Lurinlund in favor of the dimmer and more pliable Dame Vonya Loxton. Baron Jonathan's assignment of Sir Reyny had been controversial in it's own right, as the knight had been only 18 at the time and "Baron Geoffry" publicly argued that he meant no slight to Sir Reyney, but felt he was too young for such an important decision. For his part Sir Reyny, ignorant of "Geoffry's" true nature, accepted the decision with grace and vowed to continue to serve Lurinlund and it's Baron as best he could. During his reign Geoffry's impostor made overtures to the Royal Court, especially to Queen Merey Woodbridge. In 1155 there was an incident involving a tariff on ale and spirits imported into the Barony of Lurinlund that caused unrest in the town of Hardale, and threatened to bubble over into an incident with the Thorgain Kingdom. Geoffry's impostor personally met with the Thorgain Ambassador, Throt Goldaxe, and negotiated a settlement. The Crown was quite grateful for the successful effort, especially in light of the King's plans to work with Thorgain to build a bridge over the Grand Chasm. At Queen Merey's suggestion, King Koris offered the hand of his eldest daughter, Joycie, as reward for "Geoffry's" efforts. and they were married the following year, in 1156, in a large and lavish ceremony in Emeron City. The Death of King Koris The health of King Koris Woodbridge had been in decline rapid since 1156 and rumors had started to swirl that he was being slowly poisoned by Queen Merey Woodbridge, Crown Princess Joycie and "Baron Geoffry" or some combination of the three in some sort of coup attempt. There was little in the way of proof of these rumors and all three dismissed them as ridiculous and ghoulish gossip from ill-informed commoners. Privately Queen Merey blamed Duchess Sybeth Talsar for the rumors, though the she had no more proof of this than the gossipers had proof of ill intent in the Royal Court. Unfortunately the king finally succumbed to his poor health on the 14th of Unicorn, 1159. Unrest and eventually riots broke out in the city as the rumors of ill intent spread and the belief that the good king had been murdered by those closest to him took hold. Ultimately the City Watch led by Emerald Knights were forced to restore order. "Baron Geoffry" went on an relations offensive, giving speeches and posting flyers around the city swearing to the good intent an innocence of himself, his wife and his mother by law of their innocence and determination to continue the prosperity built by King Koris. The effort seemed to work and unrest died down and order was restored to Emeron City. Joycie Woodbridge was crowned as Queen of Emeron on the 16th of Unicorn, 1159 at the young age of 23. Never especially intellectually curious or well studied in statecraft, she quickly relied on her husband and mother for political advise. As is normal, she called her direct vassals, the Dukes and land holding Royal Knights, to Emeron City to offer her oaths of fealty. Attack on Strade Hall and the Sinister Seven On the 22nd of Griffon, less than a month after Joycie took the Throne there, was a massive explosion atop Strade Hall. The few witnesses who survived reported a trio of individuals who magically teleported to the top of the tower and performed some sort of ritual that caused the explosion. Two days later the crown announced that the attack was an attempt to attack the crown and undermine Queen Joycie's rule and, more shocking, that Duchess Sybeth Talsar and her heir Dame Malia Waerblue were behind the attack. The two were immediately arrested, stripped of title and imprisoned in Castle Finarte's dungeons to await trial for high treason. Queen Joycie, as ignorant of his true nature as everyone else, named "Geoffry" as Duke of Emeron to replace Sybeth Talsar. On the 28th of Griffon, before a trail could be held, Sybeth and Malia were broken out of prison by Sir Imlott Ebberholt, Sir Lazrith, Sir Aladhos Drake, Sir Reyny Indsott, and Sir Arocan Gialiadin II. Many noted that these nobles had not yet offered oaths of fealty to the Crown, or the newly made "Duke Geoffry." The seven now renegade nobles were dubbed the Sinister Seven by the Crown. Assassination Attempt On the 10th of Lion, 1159, a band of assassins managed to infiltrate the Royal Chambers of Castle Finarte. Announcements by the Crown indicate that they targeted Queen Joycie Woodbridge, "Duke Geoffry" and Queen Mother Merey Woodbridge. The Emerald Knights slew the attackers promptly, but not before Queen Mother Merey was killed. Some reports indicate that Queen Mother Merey was attacked far later than Joycie and "Geoffry", but the Crown explained later that this was mere confusion about a fast paced and chaotic event. "Duke Geoffry" publicly announced that there was proof that the assassins were sent by Princess Atril Etiamond, Joycie's younger sister and her husband of Duke Riffin Etiamond of Antyoch. As "Geoffry" and Joycie had no children, Atril was next in line to the throne, and thus if the assassination were successful Atril would be the queen of Emeron. "Geoffry" advised putting the rebellion down immediately and suggested that Queen Joycie order a large army of Royal Forces to march on Antyoch to arrest Atril and Riffin. The queen agreed and on the 15th of Lion Royal Marshal Sir Pirsym Julitt led a force of ten thousand men into Antyoch. Hunt for the Joined Starting in the spring of 1159, "Geoffry" had quietly put out the word to a number of spies to be on the lookout for a number of individuals who would turn out to be the Joined of Vesper, the Joined of Guya and the Joined of Yotia, and to attempt to arrest them if possible. On the 24th of Lion one of those individuals, Joane, turned up in Emeron City and turned herself in. She promised to turn in the Joined of Vesper and the Joined of Yotia as well as a number of high profile individuals who were helping them in Emeron City in exchange for a great deal of gold and to be rid of the magical effect that was binding her to the Joined of Yotia. A bargain was struck and she named a number of individuals, including two renowned professors in the Emeron Wizard's College, Jon Sumnim and Jaymes Chickwood, and the Royal Mage himself, the Great White Wizard Dillman. She also explained that the Joined of Vesper and some of the Joined of Yotia would be trying to effect a prison break at that very moment. "Geoffry" organized several hasty raids to take place at the same time to arrest the people named, and personally led a force along with Dame Annill DeWard to the dungeons of Castle Finarte. Once there he indeed found a prison break being affected. Unfortunately the magic of Froderik Penderghast was able to keep him from entering the battle and stymied most of the jailers and city watchmen long enough for the criminals to escape. Rescue The Real Geoffry Ravenut, and several other individuals, were found and rescued from their suspended animation by the Joined of Vesper on the 12th of Bear, 1159, 30 years after he'd been kidnapped. He requested that they escort him to Thorgain City, where he made little secret of his intent to raise an army, retake Lurinlund and slay the creature that had taken his place. During the Journey he frequently attempted to keep tensions from rising with the Joined of Vesper and the only other noble who had been kidnapped, Sir Alain Dudoc. Sir Alain was arrogant and officious and deemed the commoners who rescued him as naturally subservient. Geoffry immediately realized that the Joined would not tolerate such behavior and would be more likely to beat or slay Alain than deal with him. As a result Goeffry used his own noble status to prevent as much contact as possible between Alain and the others during the trip back to Thorgain City. Personality and Appearance In his youth Geoffry was considered a charming and kind, if sometimes impulsive and hotheaded young man. The impostor of Geoffry claimed that age had tempered him though and he is described as more careful and calculating since taking the throne of Lurinlund, no doubt the realization that his decisions affect far more than himself. He is still loyal to his word, but gives it much more tentatively and with more stipulations spelled out than he used to. Physically "Duke Geoffry" stands at 5’8” and weighs 155 lbs. He has blue eyes and has graying hair with and a prominent, graying mustache. The Real Geoffry is the same height and weight but his hair is ungreyed and worn longer and other than the occasional stubble he wears no facial hair. Category:Emeron Category:Characters Category:NPCs Category:Nobles